25 Things

1) The first instrument I learned to play was the piano. Second, saxophone. Third, drums. I have always regretting quitting percussion when I did, therefore I'm really excited to be marrying a man who plays the drums and owns a drum set.

2) I was home-schooled my freshmen year of high school. And no, I don't have social retardation because of this.

3) I don't believe in fate, destiny, or luck.

4) I am looking forward to being a stay at home mom. That's how my mama raised us and I love her for that and my dad for making that possible.

5) I shave my legs every day and I do not plan on changing that once when I'm married.

6) I have read the Feminine Mystique. Yet I firmly believe that men and women have inherent and divine differences and roles that will always be there no matter how hard people fight to change that.

7) Ice cream and french fries are my ultimate food weaknesses. And maybe Italian food. I'm a bit of an Italian food snob. I will never order from an Italian restaurant: lasagna, chicken parmesan, or fettuccine alfredo. They taste about the same everywhere.

8) I cry easily at displays of human talent, i.e. live sports, singing, plays, dancing, musical performances.

9) My first concert was the Monkees reunion tour when I was 13.

10) My secret life's ambition is to write a book.

11) I learned to water ski and snow ski when I was 5. I have done both only about twice since that time and with disastrous results.

12) I am a Christian first, Patriot second, Republican third.

13) Throughout my life I have played soccer, basketball, softball, tennis, and volleyball. The trunk of my car occasionally holds supplies for any of the above named activities. I play in basketball and soccer leagues. My parents have been coming to my soccer games for 20 years.

14) I once spilled a burrito down my face and shirt when a boy I liked waved and walked by my apartment. Suave.

15) I am stubborn. My mother's favorite anecdote for this has to do with my potty training process.

16) I have had 3 (confirmed) broken bones - both of my thumbs and the big toe on my left foot. I did not break them all in one incident.

17) I threw up for the first time (not counting baby years) when I got a flu shot a few years ago.

18) I love history. I love stories and how things happened. I tear up when I visit historical sites. Before I studied history in college I was a Sports Med major. I aced my science, math, and medical classes. I never got an A in a history class.

19) I have admired my little sister since I was about 15.

20) I despise the terminology, "what you do for a living" in reference to someone's job.

21) I stole a car from Taco Bell in Rexburg, Idaho.

22) I struggle to maintain patience and forgiveness with public misconceptions and attacks on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, especially by other Christians.

23) I have a small library. My goal is to someday have one large enough to necessitate one of those rolling ladders. Sometimes, I just sit and look at all my pretty pretty books.

24) I LOVE playing cards. I own more than 20 different decks of cards. I am also very competitive.

25) I am marrying the most incredible man. He is so many things I never knew I needed. I hope to someday feel worthy of such an amazing person.

Happy Monday Videos

The following are a couple of videos courtesy of Lydia and LanaLou's blogs. They made me laugh out loud so I am stealing them and circulating them into my relm of bloggers. Love you guys!! The last one is my contribution. If anyone has seen the Evolution of Dance, there is now a part 2. It doesn't compare to part 1, but still worth a couple of laughs.

The Marriage Menu

I drafted this post some time ago. I have kept the draft because I actually put effort into it and didn't want to scrap it. My current marital status doesn't really change any of my thoughts here. After all, I technically am still single by definition. When filling out forms at the doctor's office, there is no box for "engaged" or "dating." Only "single" and "married." Maybe they should have a "single plus" box.

The below thread of thought came from some conversations with others in the non-married club. Whether we mean to or not, we all, male or female, in some form or another, have a "list." A list specifically regarding our aspirations for our future eternal companion aka our "EC". Some lists are more extensive than others. Others more modest. Typically mine starts with "1) male". And then I just go from there depending on my mood.

I, like many out there, have gone through various drafts of this list. The first time I ever put pen to paper to create "the list" was in high school. It was some kind of church activity on eternal families and establishing what you should look for in your future spouse. I don't recall everything that was contained in this list but it most likely read the same as every other girls' in my class and was something like: Strong testimony of gospel; Return Missionary; Good sense of humor; Loves children; Athletic.

Bam! Done! Time to go find me a man! Insert 4 years of college and another evolutionary phase of the list. My freshman year, the six of us in my apartment were pretty close and knew one another well. One night we started naming off the type of man we could see the others marrying. In the end, we had all of the predictions written down. I, to this day, possess a sealed envelope with a rather extensive description of my future spouse. I have not read it in at least six years but am looking forward to a good laugh when I finally decide to read it again. Rest assured, this was nearly 9 years ago. If husband-to-be doesn't meet the checklist of my 18-year-old self, I think that's okay.

Performing the same exercise today would produce slightly different results. The list in my head has matured much as I have. It started broad and generic, then went to overly specific while in college, and now has drifted back into being more liberal. I do not imply that the standard is lowered or that I no longer expect great things out of my one-and-only-true-captain-dreamy. But I have learned the list can be a dangerous thing. Whether or not you write yours down or not, you have one in your head. Many of you are probably thinking about it right now.....

It's a bit of a catch-22; finding someone to date/marry as you go through life. On the one hand, you have a more realistic view of your future sweetie and no longer have a 50-point checklist of demands. On the other hand, you have also traveled down many more roads than you did during your starry-eyed high school days and have learned more about yourself, about life, about the opposite sex and you know what you do and don't like. So do we get pickier? Or do we get more open minded (not to be confused with "desperate")?

Moral of the story: don't let romantic ideals consume your reality. Fate? Destiny? Soulmates? MFEO? Sorry sweetheart, it's not real. Call me cynical. Call me anti-romance. When life starts to fill my moments with instrumental background music, then maybe I'll buy into fate. Until then, I'm sticking with my happy little reality.

These are my confessions, Part 1

We all have our quirks. It's what makes you who you are and me who I am. Life would be boring if we all had cookie cutter personalities and were completely "normal". Though others' idiosyncracies tend to ride on us at times and we wish that everyone was as normal as our super-normal selves, we do enjoy the spice that differences bring to life. When first coming upon the power of the social world as a child, I was extremely afraid of being/doing anything that wasn't "socially acceptable." As an adult, I have learned more to recognize the importance of differences. Thus, I shall embark on embracing my own weirdness.

There are a few things that I possibly own too much/many of, i.e. hoodies, basketball/soccer shorts, books I haven't read, hair products, and chapstick. [Sidenote: I understand that the usage of the name Chapstick is a genericized trademark but I am using it openly as my word for "lip balm." Please don't sue me.]

At one point in college I realized that I owned enough chapstick that I kept one in various locations as to never be without. There was one for each purse, one in my bookbag, one in my church bag, one that stayed in my bedroom, one random one that I carried in my pocket, and probably a few more as backups. For some reason that I do not entirely recall, I began lining up my chapsticks on my dresser periodically throughout the week to make sure that I hadn't lost any of my chapsticks. I hate losing them so I would take them out to make sure they were still in their place, then upon ensuring all were present and accounted for, would return them to their designated stations. This practice affectionally become termed the "chapstick roll-call" by my roommates.

In hindsight, I really don't follow the logic behind this practice. Nevertheless, the objective of the practice is still relevant today. I still refuse to buy one thing of chapstick and use it up before I buy another one. I will typically buy one at the impulse isle at the grocery story without necessarily needing a new one. I currently have chapstick in various purses, in my desk at work, in my church bag, toiletry/travel bag, on my night stand, and all other un-designated sticks are on my dresser. I have learned the gross lesson of never storing one in your car during the summer. It will never be the same.

The addiction to chapstick began in middle school thanks to my best friend Erica. She converted me to Chapstick® Medicated Lip Balm. Over the years, the chapstick of choice has varied. For the last couple of years I have settled on Burt's Bees Lip Balm and been very happy. I have tried most chapstick on the market at some point and Burt's has proven to be the best for me. If you would like further testimonials other than myself on this product, there are a handful of personal test subjects that may be willing to provide an additional reference as to my success with Burt's.

Things to look forward to

Ever since the start of the new year, life has been quite busy. I started the new year with some goals. One of those being to maximize my work time by doing only work things. Novel idea isn't it? My other time hog has been wedding plans. Between the two, I have clearly been neglecting my blog. I currently have six posts in draft stages. I started a thought and then never completed it. In an effort to catch up and clean out by draft blogs, I am going to dump them all on here in the next few days. If you like them, that's fine. If not, that's fine too.

One of my drafts is here. Over the last few years I've become less interested in the movies that are coming out. I can't figure out if it's me or if no one can seem to put out a decent movie. I'd like to think it's a combination of the two. I have heard some buzz of upcoming movies so I decided to do a little research into the coming 2009 movie season. Below is a list of movies that I am actually looking forward to for this year. This isn't all of them nor are they in order of importance but just the ones I wanted to make into a list.

Sherlock Holmes (left) - Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock and Jude Law as Watson. A new take on a classic story.

Time Traveler's Wife - I absolutely loved this book. I like Eric Bana. I like Rachel McAdams. Therefore I'm really excited for this movie. The concept blows my mind to read so I'm curious to see how it will be conveyed on screen.

Lovely Bones - Another book I've read being made into a movie. Peter Jackson is directing. The cast is pretty stellar and there is already talk that this will be a contender in next year's awards.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine - This has the potential to be very bad but also very cool. Hugh Jackman and I occasionally vacation together so I feel I owe it to our friendship to see his movies.

Star Trek - I am not a trekkie nor do I have any intention on becoming one. This just seems like it could be a great remake.

Tansformers: Revenge of the Fallen - I feel like I'm 10 years old when I watch these. It's great. I am naming my first born son after Shia Lebouf.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - I am nearly brought to tears whenever I watch the trailer. Anyone who wants to see the midnight showing of this, I'm game.

Where the Wild Things Are - Adaptation of the popular and imaginative children's story. With a screenplay by Dave Eggers, one is bound to be intrigued.

New Moon - I read the books. Plus (as you can see from others on this list) I enjoy seeing a movie made from a book that I've read.

GI Joe - What child of the 80's wouldn't be looking forward to a big screen movie of GI Joe!? Plus it has Mr. Echo from LOST as one of the army dudes.

Fast and Furious - Ok. So kind of, but not really. I am glad the original cast is back. But I am mainly tickled by the title. Anyone who has followed The Fast and The Furious series knows there was the original (2001), then 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), followed by The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006). I know what you're thinking, this one is #4, why isn't the name different? Oh, but it is. Look carefully. The 2009 installment of the series has dropped the "the's" from the title. Now I'm totally psyched.